Happy World Cardmaking Day!

I'm still getting ready for my Cardmaking Day class that will be later this afternoon, but wanted to take a minute to post some pics of a couple of cards that I made in the last few days. One is a Halloween card with my new Halloween set - Haunting Halloween - I just love that kitty! The other one is with the Eventfull set - it's actually a hostess set, I love it! I will post details on the how to's later on. Have a great day!

Hello from the Heart card

This is a card that I just made tonight. I just love our double sided patterned paper. It's one of those things that I just never was interested in until I used it at convention! Now I've ordered a new pack everytime I've placed an order since! I'm hooked! I used Taken With Teal cardstock for the card, the Petals & Paisley patterned paper for the next layer, Purely Pomegranate for the smaller layer with our watercolor paper on the top layer. I used the Old Olive 5/8" Grograin Ribbon in between the Pomegranate and the watercolor paper layers. I used a craft knife and cut out the little heart that was on the vase so the ribbon would show through. The stamp set is Vases in Vogue - it is a hostess set and is very fun to use. If you have any other questions, just email me! Have a great rest of the week!

World Cardmaking Day Event

As promised, here are the details on the World Cardmaking Day Class that I will be hosting. I'm very excited about this and hope that you can make it. The projects are so fun to make! I'm posting pics of the Christmas card and the the Home decor item -- as for the Halloween project, you'll just have to wait and see! There has to be some element of surprise, right?! I posted a few different ones of the home decor item just to show that you can do it with any holiday/theme/color, etc.

Saturday, October 6th
2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
3 projects (details below)
3700 S. 14th Street (this is Rob's office)
Registration Fee: $10.00
Please RSVP!

Call or email to reserve your spot now!

At the class, we will be making 3 complete projects for you to take home and for your family to admire and ooh and ahh over your talents! The projects that I have planned are:

1. Halloween project - with the Halloween project, you're going to get lots of extras! This project will be easy for you to reproduce at home for your very own little ghosts and goblins to hand out to teachers, friends, neighbors, etc.

2. Christmas card - never too early to get ideas to make your own Christmas cards to send out to your loved ones. We have lots of really beautiful Christmas sets in the catalog that I'm excited for you to see.

3. Home Decor - we will be making these cute little home decor items that can be used for Christmas ornaments, Halloween decorations, or for any time of the year. I will have several kinds of our fabulous double sided designer paper for you to choose from so you can make it for whatever season/holiday/design that you want it.

PLEASE pre-register for this event! You don't necessarily have to send me your registration fee, but I do need to know if you're coming so I know how many people to prepare projects for. I will have everything pre-packaged as well as pre-cut and scored for you so it's important that I know how many are coming.

Thank You, thank you, thank you!

You guys rock! My new catalog open house was a big success! I think that everyone had a great time playing with the new "Three for You" Punch box. Some of you even ordered one. You guys did a great job on the make and takes also. I am going to hold another event on "World Cardmaking Day"! It's a National holiday - as it should be! LOL! This is what it's all about:

WHAT
World Card Making Day is a holiday especially for card makers around the world to:
Celebrate the creativity of handmade cards and the personal connection that they create between friends and family
Kick off (and get a head start on) the holiday card-making season
WHEN
The first Saturday of each October, kicking off the holiday card-making season, the most popular time for creating and sharing handmade greetings.
WHO
The card-making community worldwide, including hobbyists, beginning card makers, manufacturers of card-making products, retail sellers of products, educators, and press are invited to come together to celebrate this holiday and creative passion.
WHY
It is a day to connect with fellow card makers both near and far, to applaud the creativity that powers the craft, and to provide an opportunity for card makers to connect and find resources that will empower, inspire, and encourage them in their card making.

Now doesn't that sound special! Don't miss out! I'll be adding another post with more details and some pictures of a couple of the projects that I have planned for you. I hope that you can make it!

I'm a new Aunt (again!)

I'm so excited to be an aunt again! This time is especially exciting because this little guy has been long awaited! He is just further proof that God doesn't answer prayers in our time - only in His time. May we all learn a little patience! My brother has been married to a wonderful person for 4 years now (I think?!) - but there is an interesting twist to the story! She was already my sister-in-law because she is my husband's sister! Now are we all confused?? Jen already had a beautiful daughter, Taylyn, when they got married (she is 12 now), and they have tried and waited patiently for a baby to add to their little family. They had actually started the adoption process since they had just assumed that it was never going to happen the old fashioned way. They are as far as just waiting for a phone call when they find out that they are pregnant! Isn't that how it always goes! Anyway, he is here now and he is beautiful. His name is Liam James Williams. Love his name too! So, I decided that I was going to put the baby shower invitations on here for our first project for you to try. Of course, you don't have to do it as baby shower invitation - it can be used for any kind of card. It's very simple and very easy to reproduce. So here goes!

Supplies:

Really Rust cardstock - 5 1/2 x 4 1/4

Chocolate Chip cardstock - 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 (scored at 2 3/4)

Patterned paper (I used the Outlaw Designer Series) - 2 1/4 x 2 3/4

Very Vanilla cardstock - 2 x 3 (cut the corners off to make it look like a tag)

Really Rust cardstock - 1 5/8 x 1 1/4

Very Vanilla cardstock - 1 1/2 x 1 1/8

Taupe Ribbon - about 3 inches

Mini Brads

Staples

Inks: Versamark, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa

1/4" square punch

Corner Rounder

Stamp Sets - "I'm Here" and "Hugs and Wishes"

1. First of all I stamped the alphabet stamp all over the larger Rust piece with Versamark ink.

2. I then sponged Chocolate Chip around the edges and a little all over to make it look old and distressed a little.

3. Take the Chocolate Chip piece and fold over at the score mark. Tear along the edge of the shorter piece that is folded over.

4. Round the corners of the bottom edge of the Chocolate piece and the Patterned piece.

5. Adhere the Patterned piece under the flap of the Chocolate piece.

6. Use the 1/8" hole punch to punch holes on each side of the flap - punch through the paper and the ribbon. This may be easier to adhere the flap down first so you don't have to try to hold it all together.

7. I used Close to Cocoa ink to stamp the hand print image on the vanilla tag piece - but I stamped off on scratch paper once to make the image a lot lighter since we will be stamping and writing on top of it. This is called "second generation" stamping.

8. Next Use the Chocolate Chip ink to stamp the "You're Invited" and "time, place, date, r.s.v.p." images on top of that. I used the wonderful Stamp-a-ma-jig tool to do this straight!

9. I attached the ribbon to the top of the tag with staples. I thought that it kind of went along with the style of this card, but you could certainly use brads, an eyelet, punch a hole and loop it through, or whatever you choose. They do have fun colored staples out there now too.

10. I used the red lined tape to attach the Chocolate pocket piece to the front of the card to make sure that it stayed together. I just used one small strip across the bottom and 2 small pieces on each side near the top - kind of underneath the fold part. That should be plenty to hold the tag so it doesn't fall through.

11. I then used the stamp-a-ma-jig (this is a real tool and that's the real name of it!) to stamp the "i'm here" image on the small ivory piece and then layered it on the top of the the small rust piece.

12. Attach the "i'm here" to the front of the pocket using Stampin' dimensionals.

13. I stamped the alphabet image on ivory cardstock and used my 1/4" square punch to punch out the letters of Liam's name and used glue dots to stick them to the front. I then put Crystal Effects over the top to make them a little shiny looking so they would stand out a little.

I think that's it! If I forgot anything or something doesn't make sense, just email and let me know!

Have fun! Have a great and safe long Holiday weekend!